Where in Europe do people spend over 40% of their income on housing?

House prices in the EU have risen by 69% on average between 2015 and the second quarter of 2026, according to Eurostat. In some member states, prices have more than doubled. Rents and energy costs have also continued to climb.

“Europe faces a crisis driven by rising house prices and increasing housing costs,” the European Council said.

The housing crisis puts particular pressure on people who spend more than 40% of their disposable income on housing. Eurostat calls this the housing cost overburden rate. In the EU, it stood at 7.7% on average in 2025.

“The main drivers of housing cost overburden are rising costs for housing (be it rents or house prices, which are spiking in many cities) in relation to the modest growth in incomes, especially for the lower quantiles of the income distribution,” Dr Hannah Widmer from ETH Zürich told Euronews Business.

So, which countries are hit hardest? Where in Europe is the housing cost overburden rate highest?

What are housing costs?

According to Eurostat, housing costs are the monthly expenses households pay for their homes. They include rent or mortgage interest, utilities such as water, electricity, gas and heating, ...